Boundary Scan Description Language, BSDL

An overview of the boundary scan description language, used in the development of boundary scan tests.

Boundary Scan JTAG Includes:
What is Boundary Scan / JTAG Boundary scan description language, BSDL Design for test with boundary scan JTAG Spec & IEEE 1149 Standard JTAG TAP & connector IEEE 1149.6 (AC coupled JTAG) Compact JTAG cJTAG IEEE 1149.7 IJTAG, IEEE 1687

Boundary scan is now a well established test technology. Boundary scan has been in use since the early 1990s when the Joint Test Action Group (JTAG) devised a solution to testing the many new boards that were being developed and manufactured where there was little access for test. With boundary scan established, a further step was to develop a standard language that could be used in the creation of boundary scan tests. With this, the boundary scan development language was created.

The Boundary Scan Description Language, BSDL, has been designed as the standard programming language for boundary scan devices that comply with IEEE 1149.1-1990, and the intention that it should be used by boundary scan test developers, device manufacturers, ASIC designers, ATE manufacturers and anyone using boundary scan. The aim is that BSDL will promote consistency throughout the electronics industry. Additionally, it will enable the specification of any boundary scan functions on a device in a more useful and consistent manner.

Introduction of BSDL

The Boundary Scan Description Language came out of the development of the boundary scan test philosophy. The initial IEE 1149.1 standard describing boundary scan was approved and released in 1990, and as a result the use of boundary scan techniques started to grow. The next revision of the standard occurred in 1993, but in 1994 another revision occurred, and this incorporated the Boundary Scan Description Language.

What is BSDL?

The Boundary Scan Description Language enables users to provide a description of the way in which boundary scan applies to different devices. As each user will tend to apply the boundary scan standard in a slightly different way, it is necessary to express tests in a comprehensible, specific and usable fashion.

BSDL is written within a subset of VHDL. VHDL or VHSIC Hardware Description Language, is commonly used as a design-entry language for FPGAs and ASICs in electronic design automation of digital circuits, and as such it is ideal for work with boundary scan because design of many chips is performed using this language. However BSDL is a "subset and standard practice" of VHDL, i.e. the scope of VHDL is limited for this application.

During the design of BSDL there were two main criteria for the language:

it should be easy to use
it should be parsable by a computer in a simple and unambiguous fashion

BDSL enables accurate and useful descriptions of the features of a device that uses boundary scan. The language can be used by the boundary scan tools to make use of the device features to enable test programme generation, failure diagnosis as well as being used in any testability analysis.

Although the Boundary Scan Description Language, BSDL, is not a language that can be sued for hardware descriptions, but a language that can be used to define the data transport characteristics of the device, i.e. how it captures, shifts, and updates data. This is then used in defining the test capability.

The BSDL file includes the following data:

Entity Declaration: The Entity Declaration is a VHDL construction that is used to identify the name of the device that is described by the BSDL file.
Generic Parameter: The Generic Parameter is the section of the BSDL file that specifies which package is described.
Logical Port Description: This description lists all the connections on the device. It defines its basic attributes, i.e. whether the connection is an input (in bit;), output (out bit;), bi-directional (in-out bit;) or if it is unavailable for boundary scan (linkage bit;).
Package Pin Mapping: The Package Pin Mapping is used for determining the internal connections within an integrated circuit. It details how the pads on the device die are wired to the external pins.
Use statements: This statement is used to call the VHDL packages that contain the data that are referenced in the BSDL File.
Scan Port Identification: The Scan Port Identification identifies the particular pins that are used for the boundary scan / JTAG implementation. These include: TDI, TDO, TMS, TCK and TRST (if used).
TAP description: This entity provides additional information on the boundary scan or JTAG logic for the device. The data included comprises: the Instruction Register length, Instruction Opcodes, device IDCODE, etc.
Boundary Register description: This description provides the structure of the Boundary Scan cells on the device. Each pin on a device may have up to three Boundary Scan cells, each cell consisting of a register and a latch.

The Boundary Scan Description Language, BSDL, is widely used within the JTAG, boundary scan community to enable consistent, accurate and useful information to be defined for a boundary scan enabled device. In this way, the chip can be incorporated into a design, and its capabilities used to their full in the most efficient manner.